In Safe Hands 2: In My Arms (PuzzleShipping)

Chapter 13

"...Death..." A voice echoed beside him, slightly choked up, "Is anything but...loneliness and darkness..."

Jesse's eyes widened when he noticed a figure made completely of light sit next to him and his heart swelled when he looked into the saddened eyes of the face of his best friend.

"J-Jaden!!!" He cried, clutching the young man in a hug, nuzzling him.

"..." Jaden held Jesse close, his eyes being covered by his hair as tears fell down his cheeks, "...Jesse..."

Jesse nuzzled Jaden on, and he looked at him.

"Jesse..." Jaden said before Jesse could say a single word, "...why...? Why did you..."

"Jaden...I miss you..." Jesse said, looking sincerely into Jaden's eyes, "I can't live without you...I honestly can't..."

"Jesse...I love you...more than anything else in the world..." Jaden returned, sniffing, "..You must try living on. It can't...it c-can't end this way. It just can't..."

"Jaden..."

"No, Jesse..." Jaden looked at Jesse, hugging him again, "I know it hurts...I know the pain you feel...but you need to live...I need you to live...if you don't...Alexis will have no one else to truly talk to..."

Jesse heard Alexis's name and was suddenly filled with shock. He was dying and Jaden was thinking about Alexis?

That truly showed the side of Jaden that Jesse didn't want to see at all. Jesse felt his eyes fill with tears from hurt and he looked down, his voice shaking.

"S-So..." Jesse pushed Jaden away from him, Jaden looking at him confused, "Y-You worry...about...Alexis more th-than you do a-about me?"

Jaden's eyes widened.

"N-No, Jesse." Jaden said, staring at Jesse and slightly hurt himself, "It's not like that!"

He reached out to touch Jesse, but Jesse slapped his hand out the way, shaking his head and trying to hide his tears. He ran from Jaden, blindly running through the darkness.

"Jesse!! Jesse please!!!!" Jaden cried after him, trying to run after him, "Come back!! It isn't like that at all!!!"

"I know exactly what it's like, Jaden!!" Jesse's voice cracked as he fell silently, letting out whispered cries.

Why couldn't he just die and get it done with? Why couldn't he just go on to the next life?

It wasn't fair.

-------

"Come on, Come on, Come on..." Yugi heard Yami whisper as the monitors got worse with the passing second.

The heart had given out again and the trachea had been damaged beyond repair. His nutritional status was disintegrating as they went through surgery. Yugi could feel the tension rising in the surgery room.

"Keep pumping in those fluids!" One doctor called, "He's giving out and giving up!"

"We can't let him!" Yami stepped in, "Get me a tube and a scalpel. He needs a new trachea."

Mai, one of the nurses who stood beside Yami, nodded as she went into a supply closet connected to the room. One of the doctors handed him a scalpel and Yami got straight to work, cutting through the flesh and opening a slit over a dented windpipe. A machine had been connected to a respirator so the patient could breathe, but Yami had his doubts that he would ever be off that respirator.

But then Yami's doctor instincts kicked into overdrive and he remembered why he decided to go through with his medical career.

He was going to save lives.

And a damaged trachea wasn't going to stop him.

"Sennen! No artificial tracheas in the supply closet!" Mai called from behind him.

"What???" Yami paled.

"Go look in the one next door!" Yugi called.

"Already got it!" Another nurse ran out of the room.

Yami tensed and looked at the respirator. This little boy wasn't going to be on that thing for the rest of his life.

Not on Yami's watch.

-------

Jesse curled up into a ball and cried.

"Jesse..." A voice whimpered over him sadly, "Jesse, I love you...I didn't mean it...that way..."

Jesse ignored the new voice and let his tears fall.

"No you don't...if you l-loved me...you wouldn't have left me..." Jesse replied, his voice low and shaky, "If you love m-me...you w-would have told me....you...you w-wouldn't have d-died!!!!!"

Jaden's eyes widened and he hugged his friend, bringing him up to a sitting position. He gently and sadly shushed Jesse when Jesse burst into another round of tears.

"I'm here..." Jaden whispered, "...And it isn't like that at all...I wanted to be with you...I was planning to be with you..."

Jesse cried still, but he listened.

"...W-Why..." Jesse let out, "Did you..."

"....A-Alexis seemed to be the natural choice....I didn't see m-myself with another guy...so...I put myself...with a girl...then..." Jaden looked at Jesse, holding him apart from him, "...I met you...and saw another side of myself...my true side...which was with you..."

Jesse's eyes were too blurred with tears for him to focus on Jaden. His eyes remained downcast as he still cried. Jaden hugged him again, shutting his eyes sadly and resting his hand on the back of Jesse's head.

"Johan...I love you more than anything else...honestly...two days before that fire...I decided to break up with Alexis...to be with you..." Jaden whispered, "...I hadn't gotten the guts to ask to date you...until the day the fire came...and I died before I could tell you...my true feelings..."

Hearing this made Jesse sadder. Jaden was tell the truth and he could tell by the sincerity in his voice. He wanted to be with him. There was no denying it.

"J-Jaden..." Jesse whimpered, "...J-Ju....Judai..."

Jaden held him still and nuzzled him lovingly.

"...I'm sorry, Johan.."